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Secondary education

North London girls 11+

101 replies

EmeraldSakara · 21/09/2023 17:58

I wondered if we could have a thread for anyone with girls doing the North London 11 plus selective schools this year?

DD is doing NLCS, Habs, and some consortium schools (SHHS, Channing and Francis Holland). Anyone in the same/similar position?
We've visited them all except Francis Holland so far- and have been very impressed with them all, in different ways. Absolutely loved SHHS- but we are aware they're all extremely competitive and hard to get into.

Can any parents who have been through this in previous years share ideas re prep for the Consortium exams? The last two sections (problem solving and creative composition) are designed to be hard to prepare for and I'm not sure where to go- does Atom Learning do this kind of prep?

Would also appreciate any info about the schools in comparison to each other- the kind of girls they suit, etc.

Really just looking for a bit of support through this stressful process!

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EmeraldSakara · 23/09/2023 13:55

Anyone....? I know there are many of us in this together!

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PreplexJ · 23/09/2023 14:12

"Can any parents who have been through this in previous years share ideas re prep for the Consortium exams"

Last year the first part is English (20mins) VR (10mins) NVR (10mins) and Maths (20mins), it is adaptive test and very similar to the Atom adaptive test, so regular practice with Atom definitely helps.

The secod part is non adaptive,

problem solving (15mins) is to solve some maths puzzles, arithmetic and logics.

The creative comprehension (18m for 25 questions) is related to science comprehension text and find relavant information from the text using analytic skills and common sense. The key is learn how to find information and clues to answer questions within limited time. Look at the familiarity example from the Consortium website will give you a good idea what it is.

DD said it is not too difficult and enjoys it. Good luck.

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EmeraldSakara · 23/09/2023 14:19

Thank you! Is your daughter at a consortium school now? Which schools did she sit for?

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Toolongawait24 · 24/09/2023 21:19

We did the schools you mentioned plus some
others in West London. The consortium exam as per my DD was not very tough although I remember her leaving some maths questions. I think solving some of the SPGS sample papers will be helpful for the problem solving and creative comprehension.
NLCS paper was quite tough especially the maths and Habs was straight forward.

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PreplexJ · 24/09/2023 21:54

DD had same sentiments as
@Toolongawait24
wrt exam difficulty last year, but it might not necessarily mean difficulty to get an offer.

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EmeraldSakara · 25/09/2023 10:55

Thanks both. Would you mind sharing where your daughters got offers from, and what you thought of the schools in general?

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Toolongawait24 · 25/09/2023 17:09

All the schools were good in terms facilities, curriculum, extra exposure in terms of speakers and the sheer number of clubs offered. The opportunities are there for DDs to capture. Some came across as more nurturing and some other schools were clearly very academic and took a lot of pride in that aspect. In the end, it is better to not fixate on a school, but focus on getting the best outcome and then when there is choice of offers, take a call on which school DD feels more at home.

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Saskia11 · 08/12/2023 10:43

Hi all, would you mind sharing what the format for the habs exam was please for English? Thanks

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laughinglemons · 12/12/2023 00:00

Hi Emerald. We are doing consortium and one other. Waiting for FHS invite to interview this week, hopefully.

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EmeraldSakara · 13/12/2023 11:43

Hello. We got a FH interview invite yesterday. Channing interview everyone, so we've got a date for that too. Anxious wait for the others until after Christmas!

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Yesha26 · 13/12/2023 14:31

Hi @EmeraldSakara Do you know if results are released please as part of the process? We have interview dates for the other consortium schools but are awaiting for a date from FH. Thankx

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GNW3mum · 13/12/2023 19:37

Hi, we got an interview at FH too, I wondered if they invited a lot as all the girls in my dd class that applied got invited back. Anxiously waiting for SHHS that’s our favourite

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GNW3mum · 13/12/2023 19:38

They never release the test results, they invite you or not. Got a no from City today

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Yesha26 · 13/12/2023 21:48

Thank you everyone for your feedback, we’re waiting on FHSS, has anyone else applied to there or is it FHRS? Thankx

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EmeraldSakara · 14/12/2023 10:40

I have heard FH invite "quite a lot" for interview but not sure what that means. Queens and Channing invite everyone. We're also doing South Hampstead but apparently they don't invite for interview until after the new year?

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GNW3mum · 14/12/2023 10:58

Does anyone know how many places FH RP might offer, as it not everyone’s top choice?
worried mum here

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EmeraldSakara · 14/12/2023 11:01

GNW3mum · 14/12/2023 10:58

Does anyone know how many places FH RP might offer, as it not everyone’s top choice?
worried mum here

Give the admissions office a call. They're really nice and helpful and I'm sure will be happy to answer this. Have you got an invitation to interview?

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EmeraldSakara · 14/12/2023 11:02

Sorry GNW3Mum- I see you did get an interview!

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laughinglemons · 14/12/2023 11:07

Shhs will invite during the first week of their term restarting - we have applied but haven’t told our DD as I don’t think she will get invited!

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laughinglemons · 14/12/2023 11:10

They don’t have a junior school so they need to fill 96 places, i have no idea how many offers they need to fill this amount, as you say not everyone’s top choice but i know girls who have turned down SHHS for FHS and others who have turned down SHHS for G&L or highgate… has anyone on here also applied to marylebone / CSG?

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Frogusha · 19/12/2023 23:50

Re: FHRP, there’s an interview with former head that can be googled where he says they invite about half back for interviews (that’s about 350 out of 700 applying). Not everyone in our prep got a place and not everyone got invited to the interview (but a lot did!)

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Ilikelists · 20/12/2023 08:48

@GNW3mum last year a mum I know called and asked and they said girls who averaged 115 on their exams were invited to interviews. I don’t know how many of the candidates that equaled. She ended up getting an offer.

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aldredan · 21/12/2023 14:04

@GNW3mum
Did you get upset abouT the NO from CSLG?

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GNW3mum · 21/12/2023 14:11

I did, but I don’t know why as it was never our preferred school. I think started panicking is she strong enough, would she get offers.

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